Hawks grind out season opening win against Condors

The Humber men’s volleyball team’s season opener made for some high stakes drama.

The Hawks came back in the third set to defeat the Conestoga Condors 26-24 in the set, and sweep all three sets 3-0.

“It was hype man,” second year player Clayton Blanchette said about the game. “The boys were firing on all cylinders, and we stayed positive the whole time.”

“The game was great, the guys definitely came out to play tonight, they rose to the occasion,” said assistant coach Kayman Wilkens. “The two top players tonight were Alex Gibbs and Clayton Blanchette. They came out, led the team and did a great job tonight.”

The game grew closer as it went on, as the Hawks margin of victory against the Conestoga Condors shrunk in each set. Going from a 25-18 win in the first set, to 25-23 win in the second set.

“We just started to play our game,” said Condors player Joshua Huisman about the final set, “We didn’t play our game in the first and second.”

The Hawks have eight freshmen on the team this year, with few returning players.

“It’s never easy when you have a lot of freshmen coming into the year,” said Wilkens. “We have great leaders; they’re doing a great job leading the team, so our freshmen are finding a way to follow them and just fit in. It’s always easy when you have good leaders.”

The Hawks had a 10-8 record last year, losing in the sudden death crossover game in the playoffs.

“We expect to be better than last year,” said Blanchette. “We’re coming off a big upset last year and the boys are feeling it and they’re ready, they look good.”

“I don’t really have too high of expectations for them, but that’s my issue with them, they always exceed my expectations,” said Wilkens. “We have a great group of guys, they play great every game, we’re gonna get far this year, we’re gonna be a team to watch for sure.